


Shadow of the Reaper

by Darkwolves602



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/F, Laser Tag, Light Bondage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 19:53:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5103701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkwolves602/pseuds/Darkwolves602
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>MAJOR SPOILERS FOR POST CITADEL DLC</p>
<p>F Shepard and Specialist Traynor make excellent use of their last hours of shore leave with a sporting game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

The day of reckoning had come to pass, the Reapers had arrived. The galaxy now found itself plunged in war it had never anticipated and never declared, entire systems at a time being torn asunder by an enemy that could barely be understood let alone stopped.

After a tense diplomatic mission on the Krogan homeworld of Tuchanka the Normandy had returned to the Citadel to find the station under assault by Cerberus. After once more single handidly repelling the attack and saving the Citadel council, again, the Normandy had been offered some much needed rest and recuperation.

Despite the now public threat of the Reapers the Citadel Council remained apprehensive to commit any real military or political support to Shepards building force, selecting instead to secure their own territories borders in preparation for the inevitable attack which despite the growing realization that they could not face this threat alone. It seemed that at the current pace the Reapers would have to scuttle into the Council Chambers themselves, after completing out the appropriate paperwork, and propose a committee be formed to discuss allocation of resources towards opposition against their current invasion plans before the Council would be willing to commit to any relevant action. Hopefully in the wake of the Cerberus coup attempt the council would prove more open to the idea of supporting the growing resistance force.

 

After another fruitless meeting with the Council Shepard found herself down in the Presidium Commons overlooking the vast lake in the centre of the elite district. There were still a few hours of shore leave remaining whilst the Normandy was being refuelled and resupplied in preparation for departure to rendezvous with a Quarian Envoy ship. Walking along the well maintained streets, seeing plants blooming in the gardens and the gentle sound of people and commerce trickling down from across the Presidium Lake, even scorched by the Cerberus attack she found this to be one of the Presidiums more idyllic locations. In some of her more private moments she began to ponder how long it would truly be before the Reapers would be here to marvel at it themselves. Looking out across the Presidium her eyes passed over the Apollo lakeside cafe, she noticed a single familiar face amongst the sea of alien features, Alliance COM specialist Samantha Traynor sitting at the far table overlooking the gardens. Shepard decided to investigate further.

 

“Hey Traynor” Shepard called out as she approached, rousing her communication specialists nose from the book she was currently firmly entrenched in.

Samantha raised her nose from her book to face her superior officer. “Commander Shepard” Traynor rose from her seat, snapping a sharp salute born through years of military service.

Jane smiled at her specialist’s dedication to her duty. “You don’t have to salute when we’re not on the duty, Traynor. relax”

“I’m sorry, Commander” Traynor stammered, returning her hand to her side. “Force of habit”

Sheppard smiled. “And you don’t need to call me Commander, just call me Jane”

“Of course Comm- I mean Shepard” Traynor replied, quick to correct her initial slip up before it could be identified.

“So what are you up to?” Shepard tactfully chose to shift the topic of the conversation, if only to spare the bemused specialist further embarrassment.

“I’m just catching up on some of my reading now that I finally have some downtime to speak of”

“Not one for bars I’m guessing?” Shepard accepted the seat across from her.

“Back when I was at university I used to sit out on Café terraces like this in Oxford and read all day” Traynor inhaled the soft air around her. “What about you Shepard, do you like to read?”

“All I seem to be reading recently are battle reports and requisition orders” Shepard chuckled. “I am afraid it leaves me little chance to read much else”

“It’s such a tragic shame” Traynor admitted. “To miss out on so much classic literature, not only human but the great works of the Asari, Turian and even the Hanar”

“Hanar?” Shepard asked.

“Of course. I just started reading the latest release of the Hanar classic ‘ _The Tale of Two Enkindlers_ ’ which was only just translated from ancient Hanar holy script into the more modern dialects. So far it has only been released using a standard translator program so some of the underlying themes and motifs are bit simplistic but I can make out the gist of it”

Shepard shook her head in solemn disbelief. “You really are serious aren’t you?”

“I may have been studying advanced communications and starship engineering at Oxford but I assure you that my passion for the great literary past of our species remains as strong as ever”

Shepard decided in that moment that enough was enough. “Come on” she rose to her feet, holding out her hands to her communications specialist. “You can’t spend the rest of your shore leave here by yourself, we’re hitting The Strip”


	2. Laser Battlezone V

The door to the luxury Citadel apartment silently whooshed open, two Alliance naval officers stumbling in to shatter the looming silence, dressed in the navy blue fatigues of two grunts that looked fresh off the boat for shore leave.

“So, Shep” Alliance Navy Specialist Samantha Traynor collapsed unceremoniously onto the couch, basking in the flickering glow of the fireplace as it ignited across the living room. “What are we going to do now?”

“Well we could watch the director’s cut of Fleet and Flotilla” Shepard suggested.

“What, again?” Samantha said.

Shepard stepped across the apartment, leaning against the window she looked out across the great divide towards the Ryuusei sushi restaurant across the way. “Looks like they finally replaced the fish tank-”

“I’ve got it!” Samantha snapped up on the couch, her fingers aflutter across the holographic surface of her omnitool. “Take a look at this”

Shepard checked her Omni-tool to find the icon of ‘Laser Battlezone V’, a virtual reality shooter playable between players or holographic bots, flashing on her screen.

“I was playing that onboard the Cruiser _SSV Cambridge_ when I was nine” Shepard replied.

“Not this version I suspect” Samantha smiled with a cat like grin. “Rule 34” she added.

Without the faintest hint of sarcasm Shepard replied. “What does this have to do with an Alliance regulation regarding bagpipe music at military honours ceremonies?”

“You’re serious” Samantha shook her head, exasperated. “Extranet Rule 34” she repeated.

The stark truth of the situation dawned upon Shepard. “Oh lord, why does everything on the extranet have a nude patch?”

“Ask the modders” Traynor sniggered.

“How does that even work?” Shepard asked.

“Well the Omni-tool projects holographic armour around the player which uses tiny mass effect fields to detect hits from the laser pistol. This version has been modified to remove sections of your armour after each hit. Ergo, strip Battlezone”

“Amazing, we discover a method to defy the most fundamental laws of physics and we use it to play a video game”

“Oh yeah, you also have to strip down to your underwear” Samantha said.

“Of course you do” Shepard replied with a resigned sigh.

“Come on Shepard” Samantha sauntered forward, draping her arms across her partner’s shoulders.  “You scared?”

A daring smile creased Shepard’s lips as her dexterous fingers reached down to unclasp Samantha’s belt with a flick of her wrist. “Bring it on Traynor”

“Don’t get too good a look, Shepard” Traynor quipped.

“Oh don’t worry. I’ll see what you have under there in time” Shepard said.

 

******************************

“Ready?” Traynor and Shepard stood back to back to each other, their pistols held at their sides. “Ready?”

Shepard counted down. “One, two-”

Traynor broke away early, both combatants quickly dashing for cover, firing blindly behind them as they ran for cover. Shepard dove behind the pillar to the right, Traynor crouched behind the kitchen counter. Each of them took pot shots at the other from their cover, but at this range their accuracy was erratic and uncoordinated. Traynor took a lucky hit to the shoulder, the force feedback in the armour unsettling her precarious balance and casting her to the floor.

Traynor decided upon a daring tactic, memories of basic training having lied dormant for years beneath time spent in the lab or onboard the ship suddenly resurfaced to assist in her moment of need. Bolting from her position she dashed for the stairs, keeping Shepard pinned beneath a wild hail of gunfire. Shepard dared to peek out, a near miss striking the pillar beside her forced her back into cover. Shepard considered pursuing her opponent onto the second floor. Quickly she dismissed the notion, the lingering threat of too many unknowns demanded a different a tactic.

Shepard snuck around the edge of the apartment in front of the window. Traynor emerged on the balcony, sniping from her superior position she pinned Shepard by the fireplace. She had yet to realise her attempts to entrench her superior position had left her side exposed. Shepard saw her opportunity lined up her shot. ‘I’ve got you right by your scrawny little-’

_Ding Dong_

The door to the apartment opened, Alliance Intelligence Staff Analyst Maya Brooks stepped into Shepard’s apartment. “Shep, you in?” Shepard gritted her teeth.

“Truce?” Shepard called out to Samantha.

“Truce” Traynor replied. Traynor and Shepard stepped out into the open living area to welcome Brooks into the apartment.

“I wanted to return your copy of ‘Fleet and Flotilla’” Brooks held out the vid in her hand.

“Maya, we were just playing a game” Traynor called out, leaning against the balcony railing. “Want to join us?”

Shepard was surprised by Samantha’s sudden brash forwardness.

“Sure” Brooks answered without daring to ask the full extent of what she had just agreed to.

“Great, you can download the program from Shepard’s terminal” Traynor said. “Oh, and you have to be in your underwear”

That condition visibly rattled Brooks. “Ok” but she unwaveringly continued into the apartment to access Shepard’s terminal.

Once she was out of earshot Samantha whispered down to her companion at ground level. “Shep, how do you feel about a little two on one action?”

 

******************************

Maya tapped the final commands into her omni-tool, the program executing automatically. “Alright” Brooks stepped out into the open living room. “When do we star-”

A sudden burst of fire emerged from multiple directions, forcing Brooks to dive to cover in the kitchen. Brooks glanced down to see her holographic forearm plate fading away to reveal her uncovered arm. “You utter bitches” Brooks’s outburst only served to intensify the barrage against her. Moving beneath the cover of the tabletops she shifted towards the rear stairs. Climbing up onto the second floor she found herself pressed against the wall, flanked behind Traynor. She lined up her shot-

Traynor turned around, firing off a single shot and forcing Brooks back into cover. Glancing out of cover she saw Traynor behind the wall at the far end of the apartment. Brooks fired blindly at her target, keeping her pinned behind the wall. Brooks prepared herself to leap out and charge-

A heavy weight landed on top of her, forcing Brooks to the ground and pinning her against the floor. Brooks wrestled and writhed against her captors hold, their grip around her wrists only tightening from her attempts to resist. Brooks succumbed to her attack, Shepard pulling Brooks to her feet and holding her against her chest.

“I wouldn’t have thought it would be this easy to catch you” Traynor said devilishly, she lined up her killing shot. “Goodbye Brooks”

Brooks knew she had to escape, she had to be free. Brooks lashed out with her elbow hard into Shepard’s stomach. Without her armour the unexpected attack threw the Spectre off balance the moment necessary for Brooks to slip from Shepards grasp. Traynors pistol discharged, striking her temporary ally in the shoulder and disintegrating the plate in a shower of sparks.

Brooks broke away in a rush across the top floor of the apartment. “Let the hunt begin” Shepard said with a sly grin, heading away down the corridor while Traynor resumed her pursuit. Traynor ducked as another hail of gunfire peppered her, lacking adequate protection she suffered several hits against her arms and legs before she could conceal herself behind the wall.

Brooks broke away and ran further down the corridor. If she could get around to the rear of the apartment she could loop around again and-

Shepard leapt out from around the corner, tackling Brooks to the floor in a flail of limbs.

 

******************************

“Boy, this escalated quickly” Brooks lay across the large double bed, her hands tied above her head at the head of the bed. “I mean this really got out of hand fast”

Traynor stood behind Shepard who was sitting in comfortable lounge seat, a perfect dragon to her master, Shepard idly handling her pistol in her hand. All around them still glowed the bright orange armour indicating that the game was still on. After the fight Traynor had been reduced to her chest plate and right gauntlet. Shepard, being the competent soldier amongst them and saviour of humanity to boot, had fared far better losing only her right and left forearm plates.

“This is like a scene of _Reservoir Varren_ ” Brooks mused idly.

“Careful” Traynor interjected. “You don’t want to give her any ideas” Traynor indicated the seated Shepard with an idle wave of her hand. All Shepard needed now was some vicious alien pet spread across her lap to complete the persona as some evil genius prepared to subjugate the galaxy beneath her iron fist.

Shepard raised her pistol, taking aim at Brooks last remaining piece of armour, her chest plate. Pow to one side, pow to the other. Two simulated shots went wide, each barely grazing their target. A taunt, or a warning.

Shepard checked her pistol, adjusting the sight as she did with each of her weapons. “Let me tell you something, Brooks” satisfied that the sight was aligned she returned her pistol to her lap. “Sometimes life is about timing. You could end up being too late, something could happen”

“And we wouldn’t want anything to happen now would we?” Traynor said with a cocked eyebrow.

“There’s something you always have to remember, nothing is forever” Don Shepard continued to the haunting music of the _Asari Godmother_ in her mind.

“Human life for instance” Traynors words were a stark reality which stung deeper with every passing day in this war.

“You’ve made a mistake, you got caught” Shepard continued. “I just hope, you don’t live to regret it.

“You’re a dead woman” Traynor said with piercing eyes.

Shepard rose from her seat, turning her back on her captive and clasping her pistol in both hands at the small of her back. “Traynor let me ask you something. Do you believe its right to take a life? Is it justified to cast down an enemy who is bound, helpless and can do nothing to resist?”

Traynor leant against the back of the chair, her eyes unwavering from Brooks. “Only if they would do the same were the roles reversed”

Shepard bounced the pistol in her hand, catching the weapon and casting it back up in a single motion. Shepard threw the pistol into the air a final time, catching it and turning to aim at Brooks’s chest. “I agree”


End file.
